Customer Reviews

Journey (Dlx)

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Most music fans over 40 will start barking "I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE!!" when you mention the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown. Beyond that, you'll get a shrug and a blank stare if you ask them to elaborate about Arthur Brown's subsequent career. Brown had dropped the "Screamin' Jay Hawkins" stage act (for the most part) by 1974 and reinvented his "Crazy World" as "Kingdom Come", with a nod toward proggy "spacerock" (a la Hawkwind). As fate would have it, Brown found himself minus a drummer while recording "Journey". No worries-he had a new-fangled "drum machine" to play with! The repetitive rhythms, coupled with synthesizers, created a sound that was quite alien and "weird" to most listeners at the time (remember, this pre-dates Kraftwerk by several years). Of course, we can now point to this album as the birth of electronica, in hindsight. The album is largely instrumental, although the anthemic, poppy "Spirit Of Joy" stands out with some of Brown's finest vocal work. Castle does an outstanding job on the remastering, and throws in a couple interesting bonus tracks. Keep in mind, this doesn't sound quite like the Orb or DePeche Mode, but it certainly helped lay the groundwork.

I remembering purchasing this on vinyl and the checkout guy commented on how terrible he thought Arthur Brown was. I let him know that he couldn't have been more wrong about this particular effort as it stands out as one of the great rock albums EVER! Arthur and his band were far ahead of their time with the spacy and different sound of Journey. My personal favorite is Superficial Roadblocks with the heavy keyboard intro, stunning vocals by Arthur and the soaring choir like sounds. Later in the song as Andy Dalby contributes his awesome guitar licks I always find myself saying "Man this is GREAT!!" As I listen today the songs still sound fresh and unworn by time. Gypsy, Time Captives and Come Alive are also brilliant efforts. You won't find a bad song on the entire CD and I recommend it highly. If you like progressive sounds like Captain Beyond or Tempest (with Allan Holdsworth, Jon Hiseman, Paul Williams and Mark Clarke) then this CD is for you!! BUY IT ALREADY!

There were so many good LPs being released in the late 60s/early 70s that lots of great stuff got overlooked! This lp was released in the US on Passport after Kingdom Come had already broken up. It got an ad in RollingStone, but little press & most people didn't connect that this was "the God of Hell Fire" Arthur Brown's* new band (had hit single Fire! with The Crazy World of *). This album sounds like NOTHING ELSE I have ever heard: the melding of drum machine, moog/synths, & space rock guitar produced a space rock masterpiece. This is one of those "listen to with headphones in a dark room late at night" type masterpieces. Largely instrumental, but when Arthur sings - man this guy has a voice and a half!!! (incredible low & high range, very expressive). Think Hawkwind with much greater musical complexity & chops or Capt Beyond (not quite as "Hard Rock" but equally DEEP). A prog rock MASTERPIECE, you'll listen to it again & again!! One of those "turn your friends on to it & blow their minds" type cds! Great spacy moog & theremin FX (Triangles will make you feel like you are transcending time and just transported yourself into an Egyptian pyramid! Strange guitar/moog bent-pitch tonalities), space rock guitar (Spirit of Joy! WOW! POWER-CHORD HEAVEN!), & wonderfully odd drum programming by Arthur. Classics are Time Captives, Come Alive, & 3rd track. Like all Arthur Brown stuff, it's HIGHLY ORIGINAL & you won't hear anything else like it, I guarantee. Makes you feel like you just took a trip through the cosmos! Buy it, you won't be disappointed! ALso check out his Tantric Lover cd: also excellent but very different from this.

This came out while I was still at high school. It changed my perception of music like Hendrix, Pink Foyd and Black Sabbath did. To someone interested in what shaped the genre's of rock this may be very interesting. Someone who just wants to listen to a good old rock album will be disappointed with the sonics, especially Bently's drumming. The other Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come albums are even less accessible. It took me a long time to find this album and it was expensive - money well spent.

Great record - I have this on original vinyl, but would like a rerelease to include the original artwork from the vinyl release, which related much better to the music than the bland rose on the cover here.

Notwithstanding, it is a super release, one of the best English keyboard based records of the period. The use of drum machine set a precedent for lots of bands in the 1980s. There are some infectious, joyful tunes here among the stardust.

I still love this album every time I hear it. A close relative in prog rock terms is Lying here, a live track on New Trolls' 1972 release Searching for a Land.

I have wanted this album for years,I never got round to buying it at the time,and I can assure you if I had it would have been well worn out by now.Not only is it a fantastic conceptual album,it reminds me of those heady days in the 70's one of my best friends at the time had the album,one evening myself and another friend paid a visit I stayed my friend decided to go to the local bar.Journey was requested having taken half a tab of acid I was well gone.My other friend returned much later I was still listening to Journey,he had long black hair and that night he was wearing a black trench coat,what a freak out it was like Dracula had just materialised,what a come down.I can honestly say this album is in my blood.

with all due respect to arthur brown...i think the first band to experiment with eletronica...by 3 years was a band (2 guys who's names escape me..) called tontos expanding headband...great stuf...